How to Transfer Data From an iMac to a MacBook Pro

Written by christopher capelle

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Apple has made it easy to transfer files between Macs. (hi tech keyboard 2 image by Mograph from Fotolia.com)

The iMac and MacBook Pro are two models of Macintosh computers produced by Apple. While the MacBook Pro line of laptops has remained fairly consistent throughout its life, there have been four distinctly different versions of the iMac desktop computer, each identified by its processor type. No matter which type of iMac you have, Apple has made it simple to transfer data between Macs, requiring only a FireWire cable or an external hard drive.

Skill level:

Easy

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Things you need

FireWire cable

External hard drive or USB flash drive

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Instructions

1

Create a new folder ("Command," "Shift," "N") on the desktop of the iMac and name it "Transfer." Drag all the data that you want to migrate to the MacBook Pro into that folder.

Highlight the "Transfer" folder by clicking on it once and selecting "Get Info..." under the File menu, or click "Command" and "I." The window that opens will indicate how much data the folder contains. Take note of this, as you will need to know this in the following step.

Click once to highlight (mouse image by Adkok from Fotolia.com)

3

Double-click on the MacBook Pro's hard drive. The amount of free hard drive space is indicated at the bottom of the window. An alternate method for determining free space is by highlighting the laptop's hard drive and selecting "Get Info..." under File or by pressing "Command" and "I." As long as the free space on the Mac Book Pro's hard drive is larger than the size of the Transfer folder, then continue to Step 4. If not, you'll either have to delete some files from the MacBook Pro's hard drive or remove some files from the Transfer folder on the iMac's desktop.

Confirm that you have ample space (hard drive interior image by Curtis Sorrentino from Fotolia.com)

4

Reboot the MacBook Pro while holding down the "T" key. It will boot in "FireWire" mode and the screen will display the FireWire icon. Attach one end of a FireWire cable to the FireWire jack on the iMac and the other end to the FireWire jack on the MacBook Pro.

Hold down the "T" key to reboot. (hi tech keyboard closeup image by Mograph from Fotolia.com)

5

Look for the MacBook Pro's hard drive, which is indicated by the FireWire icon, to mount on the iMac's desktop. If it doesn't appear, select "Preferences" from under Finder and confirm that "External disks" is checked off under the General tab.

Drag the "Transfer" folder from the iMac's desktop to the MacBook Pro's hard drive. Once the file has finished copying, eject the MacBook Pro's hard drive by dragging it into the trash or by clicking the triangle-shaped "Eject" icon next to it in the finder window.

Power down the MacBook Pro by pressing the power key and disconnect the FireWire cable. Then reboot it and you'll see the "Transfer" folder on its hard drive. At this point you can move the files anywhere you want on the MacBook Pro.

Reboot to see if the transer folder in on the hard drive. (Monitor de PC (rosa) image by Mario Matos from Fotolia.com)

8

An alternate method is to use a flash drive or external hard drive to transfer the files. Plug the drive into the iMac, copy the "Transfer" folder to it and disconnect it when it's finished copying. Then attach it to your MacBook Pro and copy the files onto the your laptop.

You can transfer files with a USB flash drive. (flash drive image by jimcox40 from Fotolia.com)

Tips and warnings

Before transferring any data, slim your Transfer folder down by deleting any duplicate or unnecessary files.

Don't delete any files from your iMac until you've confirmed that they've copied successfully to the MacBook Pro.